Applicants for a French residence permit who have sent in their application via « demarches-simplifiees » are entitled to a « récépissé »

The French ministry of internal affairs is currently in the process of digitizing all administrative procedures related to immigration issues for foreigners living in France : applications for residence permits, validation of long-stay visas, applications for French naturalization, change of address, etc.

And all this via a single platform called administration numérique des étrangers en France (ANEF) designed to make everything simpler and more efficient for prefectures and for foreigners themselves.

However this transition, that is ongoing since 2021, has proved slower and more complicated than expected. And as of september 2023, many foreigners are still not concerned by this platform for the renewal of their residence permits, for example those under the status « parent of a French child » or « salaried ».

That’s why a lot of prefectures have, independantly, chosen to rely on another website for applications for residence permits, the platform « demarches-simplifiees.fr« , which can be more or less intuitive, depending on how well it is designed.

Therefore and paradoxically, the drive to modernize and simplify relations between the French administration and foreigners has led the latters to be, at least temporarily, in a much more complex situation.

Indeed, every single of them has to know which procedure to follow, and this task has proved to be particularly difficult.

For example those who fall under the old procedure generally have to apply for a physical appointment in the prefecture‘s offices within the last 2 months of validity of their card¹. And then, after having submitted their files physically, they would receive a récépissé, usually a 3-month renewable residence permit supposed to fill the gap between their current residence permit and the one to be issued².

In the contrary, those under the new ANEF procedure have to submit their file on the ANEF platform from 120 to 60 days prior to the expiration of their card³, and if the instruction of their file extends beyond that date, they would receive a digital certificate, called an attestation de prolongation d’instruction, worth a récépissé and renewable until the competent prefecture takes its decision⁴.

In parallel to this, those of the foreign nationals who have to submit their file via the website « demarches-simplifiees » could legitimately wonder what rules apply to them, this confusion being enhanced by the varying practices of the prefectures themselves.

This question is, however, a crucial one because a wrong choice could lead them to send their application too late or too soon, and therefore be denied.

In the judgment that interest us today, the Conseil d’Etat has made a useful clarification, by confirming that people who are asked by a prefecture to use the platform « demarches-simplifiees » fall under the old regulation.

It means that they have to send in their applications via « demarches-simplifiees » within the last 2 months of validity of their card. Afterward they must be convoked to the prefecture’s offices to resubmit their file and receive a récépissé that will allow them to stay in France, and sometimes to work, until they receive their new card.

Overall, the situation of foreign nationals living in France is still notoriously complicated and confusing, but at least a little bit less now.

 CE, August 2, 2023, n° 473349

1. Article R. 431-5 of the ceseda (French immigration code) ↩︎
2. Article R. 431-12 of the ceseda (French immigration code) ↩︎
3. Article R. 431-5 of the ceseda (French immigration code) ↩︎
4. Article R. 431-15-1 of the ceseda (French immigration code) ↩︎